Before
by solecia
Summary: After the world had been saved, and before it needed saving again, everything was peaceful...


There was only one thing to do: wait.

Isaac paced; he chewed on his lip, he fidgeted, and fear pulsed in the back of his mind that something would go wrong. He was a warrior—perhaps the best around. Not to brag, of course, but it could only be helped to admit the truth. He had overcome every obstacle, every monster, every villain who had stood in his way up to this point. No one, except maybe Garet sometimes, could knock him down. He had allowed himself to let in a little pride—up until now he thought he could overcome anything, protect all who were close to him. Until this.

The shrieks of his wife were evident filled with pain, and agonizing to the golden-haired young man. But he couldn't do anything except stand outside and reflect, tortured with the reality that he couldn't go inside and fight the monsters who did this to her, that he could only... wait.

Every time Jenna screamed, Isaac flinched in panic and restrained himself from running into the room. For God's sake, it sounded like the woman was dying. And every time he thought that, the idea of the one person closest to him leaving forever, it only made him angrier, more paranoid, and more afraid. He was alone in the waiting room by now, since everyone else had been scared away by Isaac's aura, which was darker than anything even they had seen. This was the first time even Garet has seen his best friend like this; the only thing that was anywhere close was the night the Mt. Aleph boulder had fallen, and even then Isaac had been pushing it down. But never like this, where he'd nearly shouted at Mia for asking if he was alright. Mia, who no one could really gather themselves to get mad at, with her own calming personality. That had been the breaking point—everyone left immediately and without question. It was more than obvious that the usually stoic Isaac needed some time alone.

That's when he noticed it. The room. It was quiet, only labored breathing and hushed voices. Isaac froze in his tracks, and watched as the head woman of Patcher's Place—Rena, Patcher's wife—pushed through the doorway with a wide grin on her face. That was how he knew. He didn't even hear her say it, because he didn't have to. Relief washed away all worries he had imagined up for himself, and he allowed himself to hold his head and smile at how foolish he must have been acting.

"Would you like to see her?"

Isaac nodded to her, who had fought the battle he could not. He couldn't even manage a thank-you—and she knew it. She'd done this enough times, and knew that in a situation like this, any man even the great Isaac wouldn't be able to utter a word. Taking his shoulder, she guided him through the doorway and into the inn room they had hastily emptied save for one bed inside, where Jenna laid with a wet rag on her forehead. Three woman sat around her, and one held a little bundle in her arms. Releasing Isaac, Rena gave him reassuring nod before standing back. She knew how these scenes went. She didn't need to help any longer.

"...Hey." Isaac sat down beside Jenna and brushed a stray hair from her face, who smiled back at him. Beaming. "I can't believe it, but... you did it. We did it. It's a miracle." The female Mars Adept sighed in response, resting her cheek in her husband's hand, closing her eyes from exhaustion. "Yeah. We did it."

The woman holding the bundle in her arms made her way to Isaac and Jenna and held it out with a smile. "It's a boy. He looks just like you." Looking over at her, Isaac tentively took the small child and cradled it, staring at it in awe. The baby was curled up together, fast asleep, no signs of anything wrong with it. Leaning back, the father cautiously reached out a finger. For a moment he was frightened, that he might harm the child, but he traced the shape of his cheek and held back a proud smile. The child, slightly disturbed from it's sleep, stirred for a moment. Opening it's eyes, slowly, it looked up and met eyes with Isaac, and for a long moment the two held each other. And then, together, they smiled.

And he knew. Jenna knew as well, from watching them.

"Matthew. His name is Matthew."

* * *

><p>"Matthew! Tyrell! Karis! Come on you three, it's time for dinner!" Jenna's voice cut through the sounds of wooden swords smacking against each other in the yard. A young Matthew and Tyrell were sparring, each matching the other perfectly in speed and movement. On the side, a young Karis with long, straight hair, sat holding her knees, watching in relish, none of the three children hearing the woman.<p>

Matthew was hard pressing Tyrell—he wasn't giving him any room to fight back, but he wasn't letting himself do much damage. Shifting stance after a moment of the two children breaking apart, he launched himself at Tyrell, who was caught by surprise and held up his sword just in time to block the head-long attack. Gritting his teeth, the young Mars Adept pressed back on Matthew's sword, a frown etched on his face in determination. Finally, he broke his sword away to strike again at Matthew, only to have the Venus Adept smoothly sweep down and slide his food under Tyrell, causing him to blanch in surprise and lose his footing and fall. The wooden sword clattered to the ground, and Matthew aloud himself a brief smile at his victory, holding out a hand for Tyrell to use. The Mars Adept drew back in disgust, and stood up on his own, ignoring his defeat and running to the house without saying a word. Karis stood up and laughed briefly; the two were always like this, Matthew winning and Tyrell throwing a fit. And you could tell that Matthew was used to it, for he smiled and shook his head in good nature and dropped his own sword to the ground.

"He always throws a fit. Why don't you go tell him that, Matthew?" Karis teased, coming to stand right next to him. Matthew only shook his head once more, but he looked over at Karis with a glint in his eye. Karis sighed—"I should have known you wouldn't say anything. That's just like you, keeping quiet all the time and always knowing what's going on. You're so much like Isaac it's creepy." Laughing, she started to the house and called back, "But I bet I can beat you to his cooking!" Startled, Matthew blinked in confusion before running after her. "Wait up, Karis!" he called out, but she didn't listen.

Coming back to the house, Karis did indeed beat him; Jenna stood by the doorway and smiled mischievously at the two of them. "I was wondering what took you two so long. I expected you to come running in right after Tyrell did." Leaning in a bit closer, she winked at Matthew and kept her voice low. "I'm guessing he's angry because you beat him again, didn't you?" Huffing, she shook her head. "It's only reasonable. Garet never could beat Isaac in battle, it'd be a miracle if it were any different with you two. Like I always say, the apple never falls far from the tree." From the table, the hotheaded Fire Adept Garet overheard part of the conversation and reddened slightly. "What did you say, Jenna? Are you saying my son is incapable?" Jenna and the children laughed, before the mother ushered them in sternly.

All seated at the table, including Tyrell who was glaring at the table and ignoring everyone else and excluding Isaac who was still in the kitchen, everyone eagerly awaited the meal and passed stories about their day save for Matthew of course, who quietly followed the others. Karis was avidly engaged in a conversation with Jenna, talking about something only girls could talk about so importantly without the guys trying to butt in. Well, all guys but Garet, who hated being ignored by _anybody_, and tried multiple times to get the girl's attention. But all was quiet when Isaac brought out the steak from the kitchen, where everyone was hushed by the anticipation of food. Jenna smiled briefly as he sat down with dinner and grinned at them all, a little sheepish to say in the least. "I envy you, you know," she said teasingly. "I never was one to cook, and for the longest time, you couldn't either. But you save the world and all of a sudden you can cook better than even Mia." Everyone laughed at this (except for Tyrell, who was still pouting) and dug into the steak, their appreciative silence obvious by the fact that they were too busy to say that it was good by the fact that they were chewing.

His plate still full, Tyrell sat back in his chair angrily and said nothing. After a moment of noticing, Garet glared at his son and shook his head. "Why aren't you eating, Tyrell? You love food. This is weird for you." He looked around at the table, noting that everyone else was too busy chewing. Sighing, he went back to his own food after getting no response from his son and no encouragement from the others. "You know," Karis started a minute of chewing, "he's probably still mad at Matthew for beating him. I'm surprised—I would have guessed he'd be used to it by now." Tyrell looked up, startled, his face red from fury. Matthew sunk back in his seat slightly in embarrassment, especially when everyone looked over at him.

"Your son beat my son, eh? I guess it can't be helped, Isaac. You were always the best fighter—even I couldn't beat you. I'm not surprised." Garet guffawed at this, while Tyrell glared at his father. "What, Dad, do you think I can't do anything? That I'm weak?" he said angrily, obviously caught up in being angry at _somebody_. Garet shook his head innocently, but then continued to guffaw at the end of the table. Everyone sighed when Tyrell made a rather rude comment under his breath and dug into his food, obviously trying to get over the issue. And everyone went on with it all, while Matthew smiled and shook his head.

Those days were nice.


End file.
